Talent Circles

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

The War for Talent is Local

A lot of discussion has emerged
concerned the skills gaps and impending labor shortage, but nothing resonated
with me until now. A couple weeks
ago, I was sitting at a local HR and recruiting board meeting for the OKC Metro
Employer Council when the idea hit me like a brick wall. I had the equivalent of a recruiting epiphany as I listened in on other board members conversations and challenges. I realized the war for talent is local.

OKC vs. Yuma: A Tale of Two
Different Candidate Marketplaces

Listed as the third strongest metro
economy in the US by Bloomberg in 2012, Oklahoma City has been insulated from most of the country’s
economic downturn. This city and
community is currently the place I call home.
The local economy is going strong, and our metro area’s unemployment rate is ridiculously low at 4.9%. It’s hard
as heck to recruit here which is something I heard over and over again at our
board meeting. Quality job seekers have
their pick often from multiple offers making your job as a recruiter extremely
competitive. That’s in stark contrast to
Yuma, Arizona’s, unemployment rate, which stands at 29.8%.

The markets are completely
different; yet I can almost guarantee your company’s recruitment strategy in
these two different cities is exactly the same.
Imagine courting a candidate in Oklahoma City versus Yuma and presenting
them with what is your best offer. In
Yuma, that candidate accepts your offer immediately while the Oklahoma City
candidate stalls not even returning your call. That’s because recruiting and
the war for talent is local.

Recruiting Gets Specific. The
War for Talent is Local

As recruiters, business leaders,
and HR professionals we are faced with a challenge especially when managing
multiple position requisitions and competing for talent in Oklahoma City versus
Yuma. Our hiring and recruitment
strategies should differ because the local market and the candidates in which
you pull from are very, very unique. As
a recruiter you have an obligation to research your local candidate marketplace
to get a sense of what recruitment strategy would work for you. You are
spending your precious time in Oklahoma City posting and praying to a candidate
ecosystem and economy that dictates a different recruitment strategy
altogether.

In these uber competitive local
marketplaces like Oklahoma City, Omaha, and the Dallas Metroplex, building a
talent pipeline is the best way to help elevate the stresses of a competitive
candidate marketplace due to a robust economy.

How to Build a Talent Pipeline

Recruiting is local and building a
relationship matters. When it comes to
building a recruitment strategy even to fill a single position in a
metropolitan area like Oklahoma City, the devil is in the details. And those
details in extremely competitive markets in Oklahoma City require you to build
and develop a talent
pipeline 6 months, 12 months, and 3 months before you even begin looking to
fill an open position there.

This starts with creating a
conversation and an opportunity starting with a talent network of eligible,
qualified, and interested candidates before the need for a specific position
arises. Because a relationship is built
on time, reputation, and trust and a talent network affords you these
things.

Jessica Miller-Merrell, SPHR is a workplace and technology strategist specializing in social media. She’s an author who writes at Blogging4Jobs. You can follow her on Twitter @blogging4jobs.

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